Joy at the Cross

Suffering is regularly related to trials, since suffering is what we usually allow trials to produce in us. But sometimes we suffer in ways which cannot be traced to our failure to face trials with faith and fortitude. What then? Suffering – especially if it is unjust or otherwise repugnant to reason – is often considered to be quite the opposite of joy. Yet is that how Scripture considers it? This time we will ask St. Paul to speak.

“I am overflowing with joy all the more because of all our afflictions,” sayeth sagacious Saul (2 Cor. 7:4). And again, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings…” (Col. 1:24). What is he, nuts? Well, maybe. He did call himself a fool for Christ, after all (1 Cor. 4:10).

It's the “for Christ” part, though, that should keep us from being too hasty in our judgment about the Apostle's sanity. James and Peter gave us spiritual growth unto perfection and hope for everlasting reward as reasons for enduring trials joyfully. Now Paul expands our horizon by adding the elements of mission and mystical union with Christ to our reasons for rejoicing.

The full text of the passage quoted above from Colossians reads: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, which is the Church.” So we can rejoice in our sufferings because of our mission to others, for the sake of their salvation. It is not only our perfection and eternal life we are concerned with, it is also that of our brothers and sisters. In this we become more like Christ, who came to give His life as a ransom for the many (Mk. 10:45).

The more we put on the mind of Christ and begin to love as He loved (which is not an option, but a commandment; see Jn. 13:34 and 15:12), the more we will joyfully accept whatever sufferings God permits to befall us. This task is beyond human strength (as you will readily agree), but despair not, for here is the answer: "“he joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10).

This passage should make us realize, though, that the joy of the Lord cannot be identified with mere happy feelings. It has been said that joy is not found in the absence of suffering, but in the presence of God. Similarly, it has been said that Christ did not come to take away our suffering, but to fill it with His presence. But how can we be sure, since it is only His presence that makes suffering bearable (and even fruitful and meaningful), that we are in Him and He in us “This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us, that He has given us His Spirit” (1 Jn. 4:13).

The Holy Spirit’s gift of fortitude enables us to bear our crosses courageously (and dare I say even joyfully?) and to make our sufferings contribute to holiness, rather than create obstacles to it.

Now what is holiness if not union with our Lord Jesus Christ (with all the implications thereof)? He was willing to suffer anything, if only he could be united to his beloved Lord. No price was too high, no affliction too discouraging a prospect. So what was his goal? “To know Him and the power of His resurrection, and to share His sufferings by being conformed to His death…”

St. Paul thus teaches us that suffering is not something to avoid, but something to embrace – not as something good in itself, but insofar as it draws us into the mystery of the Crucified One and helps prepare us for an eternity with the Risen One.

Those who believe in Christ are to live “no longer for themselves but for Him who for their sakes died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:15), and hence must follow in the footsteps of the Master and adopt His perspective, that which sees the ultimate good (see 2 Cor. 4:8 – 18 and 1 Pet. 2:21 and 4:12-16). Those who are most intimately in union with Jesus are those who share willingly in what was closest to Him – i. e. the Cross, for it was the means whereby He could express most fully His infinite love for us.

Fr. Joseph